Symptoms of ulcerative colitis

You may also experience fatigue (extreme tiredness), loss of appetite and weight loss.

The severity of the symptoms varies, depending on how much of the rectum and colon is inflamed and how severe the inflammation is. For some people, the condition has a significant impact on their everyday lives.

Symptoms of a flare-up

Some people may go for weeks or months with very mild symptoms, or none at all (known as remission), followed by periods where the symptoms are particularly troublesome (known as flare-ups or relapses).

During a flare-up, some people with ulcerative colitis also experience symptoms elsewhere in their body. For example, some people develop:

Who's affected?

It's estimated that around 1 in every 420 people living in the UK has ulcerative colitis; this amounts to around 146,000 people.

The condition can develop at any age, but is most often diagnosed in people from 15 to 25 years old.

It's more common in white people of European descent (especially those descended from Ashkenazi Jewish communities) and black people. The condition is rarer in people from Asian backgrounds (although the reasons for this are unclear).

Both men and women seem to be equally affected by ulcerative colitis.

How ulcerative colitis is treated

Treatment for ulcerative colitis aims to relieve symptoms during a flare-up and prevent symptoms from returning (known as maintaining remission).

Mild to moderate flare-ups can usually be treated at home. However, more severe flare-ups need to be treated in hospital to reduce the risk of serious complications, such as the colon becoming stretched and enlarged or developing large ulcers. Both of these can increase the risk of developing a hole in the bowel.

If medications aren't effective at controlling your symptoms, or your quality of life is significantly affected by your condition, surgery to remove your colon may be an option.

During surgery, your small intestine will either be diverted out of an opening in your abdomen (known as an ileostomy), or used to create an internal pouch that's connected to your anus (known as an ileo-anal pouch).